ABSTRACT
Grime music enjoys a particular reputation. It is not only thought to inherit and extend the most virulently nihilistic aspects of gangsta rap at the level of lyrical content and public image. Some of the convergences identified by Rupa Huq in her research are amplified in UK grime music where the dominant survivalist ethos of neoliberalism is constitutive. Drawing on data from participant observation and interviews conducted in slam poetry workshops in East London secondary schools and hip hop emcee workshops in a North London youth club, this chapter shows 'hip hop versus rap' assume the locally institutional form 'hip hop versus grime music'. If the 'aggressive', 'thug thing' in grime, like in gangsta rap, vitiates hip hop, and infects it with negativity, it is also, in the view of these hip hop educators, what causes other adults to fail to appreciate the nascent artistry that lurks within 'the rhyme, the flows, the energy, the vibe'.
